I knew it might provoke criticism from the leccy biking fraternity Spitty, and I apologise.
My post was purely from a personal perspective and I don’t, and never had a problem with people riding them, and I can see they do have a place in today’s society…No road tax or insurance, and just a few quid on your electric bill. Perfect for commuting or nipping down the shops on. I bump into lots of past cyclists, runners, postmen/women, who no longer walk, ride or run, and that’s fine…But I still have that enthusiasm to turn out in the wind and rain (sunny days are preferable but not essential) in me shorts, and run, walk or cycle to get my fix…It’ll probably kill me in the end…
My stance is not as clear as I make out, I would go full pedal again, but, it would have to be a lightweight so called “Gravel Bike”, look them up foxy. My problem is that what I have in mind is expensive, the carbon fibre one’s circa £4000.00.
Ribble AUTO-GRIT
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Nice bike Spitty, amazed at the number of gears available. I’ve only got 5 on my road bike.
A bit too substantial for my needs. I sometimes leave mine chained up against a fence while I do a walk. I drive to a location and then cycle to the start of the walk and walk back to the car.
Bikes always there when I get back, but I bet that one wouldn’t be…
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Nice traditional bike that Foxy, all the miles done as a nipper were done on a similar bike, the ergonomics of the modern Mountain Bike, although extremely light could not have been used to cover those distances.
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I decided it was time to add a couple of Trig points to my list. I haven’t done one since April 2024 and with the promise of a sunny day yesterday I decided to do one of the harder ones. I can usually manage four or five during a visit to the high places, but the one I had in mind was a five mile walk over some of the most roughest terrain and some steep climbs on route.
I’ve visited this trig many times before but as a runner and walker and never really took any details, so it had to be done again.
It’s been 30 years since my last visit while racing the 42 miles of the Lyke Wake from Ravenscar in the east to Osmotherley in the west.
That’s me in seventh place from the 1996 race results…
It seemed a lot further than I remember, and certainly a lot steeper. I had to stop and rest several times during some of the climbs…A bit of a shock really when you consider I used to run these…
So after parking the motor in the Sheepwash car park…The start of so many Lyke Wake Walks over the years…
I made my way down the road to the cattle grid where you disappear into the woods.
There used to be a sign here that proclaimed ‘Ravenscar 39 miles’ it certainly played on the minds of many a Lyke Wake walker. There’s no mention of the Lyke Wake now, just this sign directing walkers to follow Albert Wainwrights Coast to Coast walk. He even signed in with AW in black marker at the top…
The path through Scarth Nick Woods is long and steep in places…
Back in 1955 Bill Cowley walked from Osmotherley to Ravenscar and the Lyke Wake Walk was born. Since then millions of walkers have made the trek mainly for charity, or just like me, it was in my blood and couldn’t resist the challenge.
A great place for cooling down those blistered feet, or perhaps some skinny dipping…
After a hard five mile slog, this was my first sight of the Carlton Bank Trig Point…
Time for a photo shoot and proof of my visit…
‘Roseberry Topping’ and this will be my next trig…Not today though…
The views over Middlesbrough and the sea in the distance are spectacular…
With just a couple of miles to go, time for a drink and a jam sandwich…
This stone and the tribute to Bill Cowley is the only reminder that the Lyke Wake ever existed, all the waymarks have been removed, and most people will never have heard of Bill, but Alfred Wainwright and his Coast Coast is the new messiah now…I met six people heading to the coast doing Alfred’s walk…
It turns out I did make a visit in 2011, I had forgotten about this one…
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Nice legs.
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There is a $$$ Million-dollar home sliding off a cliff in Utah. Living in Arid County has its Perks.
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85F is a nice warm day, 90F is much warmer, 95F is a hot day, 100F is blazing saddles day and AC it. 75F is a short sleeve, shorts, outdoor fun day. Rain may pop up here at all those temps. Winds from a southerly direction usually brings storms. Once June comes around there are a lot of 90+ days in the region. You can see guys wearing hoodies even then.
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Good to see you back trigging OGF 
Spectacular scenery too.
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Just as a matter of interest who takes the photos? they are obviously not selfies.
My thought is they are delivered free at the start of every season
Thanks d00d, I try to keep them in shape by giving them some hard work to do, but the heart gives out before the legs do…
Thanks Mr Smith…
I might not get as many done this year because I’m going for some of the harder ones. There might be a long walk involved or a steep climb. I jogged up most of them back in the day, but I didn’t realise just how steep and long some of them were. It’s certainly been an eye opener.
On this last one I was having doubts about reaching the top when I was half way up, and I was thinking negative thoughts like: It might be my last one if I make it…But you soon forget the struggle or else you wouldn’t do anything again…
Yes they are all selfies Bruce (couldn’t find anyone daft enough to climb the hills with me) I used to use a small tripod with the timer set, but some trigs were set in long grass and the tripod disappeared into the undergrowth…
So I designed a taller holder for the camera, but it had to fit into my rucksack.
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No long distance photos of the selfie. I don’t want to break my cellular connection.
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Just popping in to let you know I’m still about. How I ever found time to do everything before I retired I know not.
I recall the many different bus companies around dear old Donny that kept fares low for many years. I can’t recall the operator’s name, but their buses were blue and white I think that I rode for seven years from Bessacarr to Donny central, then changed to a corporation bus that extended the Intake Route during school hours out to Danum Grammar every morning.
Officially, the 8am bus from Bessacarr started at Church Lane, but in practical terms it turned around in the garage at the Grange Road/A638 (formerly known as the A1) junction so my mates and I would unofficially get on there, or officially get on across the road one stop before Church Lane
There was also a bus operated by the same company that ran by inbound from Rossington at about 7 minutes past the hour if we missed the local bus, but it was always crowded.
On top of that there was the Rossington bus company in their British Racing Green livery, plus the red corporation buses all running out to Rosso village to service the mine.
The change in town involved getting off at the Gaumont traffic lights and nipping round to Prince’s Street to catch the outbound corp’ bus to school.
The reverse journey dropped us at the Gaumont lights on Thorne Road because Prince’s Street was one way, then we nipped round the corner to get on one of the many Rosso buses at Regent Square, mingling with the pupils from several other schools in the process.
Donny boys, Donny girls, Danum girls, and a private school or two.
School bus travel was subsidised, books of tickets obtained from the school office for the private bus companies, and a bus pass for the corporation buses.
Happy days.
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Fruity, your recollections are so clear, did you never have a crisis on a Bus?
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Last ride on a bus was taking kids to school and back downtown to get on a different west bound bus, west to my work area. In all over an hour. Basically, an oval of over 20 miles to go 2 1/2 miles to work.
Buses don’t run in opposite directions.
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News Just In
After a battery failure on this laptop major surgery was performed yesterday, and I’m happy to report the patient is doing well and believed to be up and about soon…
In other news…Apparently we had record breaking temperatures yesterday (all this global warming nonsense)…It did get unbearably warm, but hardly ‘record breaking’
Do they think that people don’t keep records…
Here’s yesterday’s temperature…followed by
2022
2021
2019
2017
2016
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22 degrees here today. The record temperature here is 29.8 degrees. Mind you we get more than our fair share of snow in the winter.
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I saw on the news that the high temperatures are due to a more powerful than usual El Nino Scot, we might be in for a bad winter.
Just drove across town to the barbers and all the schools have closed at lunchtime due to the heat. A gang of about twenty kids have just run across the road in front of me, and another lad decided to run along the parapet of the railway bridge… 
Sorry about the image, that’s him on the left. Need a better dash cam.